Resilient electric socket contact element



Nov. 13, 1951 s. T. DEAKlN 2,575,161

RESILIENT ELECTRIC SOCKET CONTACT ELEMENT Filed Feb. 17, 1948 a Sheets-Sheet 1 .3 I 5 :w i

HI 2 3 J. .ILIJIIII: J

1 3 .CMDIH'HI IIIIII I INVENTOR STANLEYTDEAKIN 3731M EME'M NOV. 13, 195] s, DEAKlN 2,575,161-

RESILIENT ELECTRIC SOCKET CONTACT ELEMENT- Filed Feb. 17, 1948 3 Sheets-Sheet 2 INVENTOR J 1 ANLEYTDEAKIN w 1951 s. T. DEAKIN RESILIENT ELECTRIC SOCKET CONTACT ELEMENT 3 Sheets-Sheet 3 Filed Feb. 17, 1948 INVENTOR STANLEY THOMAS DEAKIN aw a Patented Nov. 13, 1951 StanleyThomasDeakin;Ewelli England kassignor 1 -to (British Mechamicaln'lroductions; Limited,

1 sLondon,;England,:a British Gpgnpany Ai plication'E br ar 7.11%?

1 Great-Britain A catama ans Liwieso rialyNo-fttw stasis-n6 'Y alfatentexr Mas '3 66 This invention relates to electric resilientsockaet contact elements for the reception of the pins v..of- .a -plugmember or arvalve, or ofswitcheleailments; the tongues of a fuse holder or like, round or flat equivalent plug members.

ment for the above purpose. comprising. two vsub- -stantially parallel contact faces between which HthepIugmember is received and which are inztegral-with orattached to theends. ofla zig-zag or S-:shaped portion connecting the contact faces together and lying in a plane perpendicular to the direction of insertion and withdrawal of the-plug member. :Itis: anz-advantage of the construction ofsa =contactelement according to .the invention that it allows for a substantialamount of resilient rmovementofi the contact faces and a further advantage is thatvsubstan'tially equal contact pres- .sure is applied to the plug member across the width of the contact faces (i. e., transverse tovthe direction of movement of the plug member) i even though the plug member may taper in thickness across its width.

t' ic mshine e) 1Z2 i u .12- esection. t rou l h ah lder'fi l A .Fi gure 13isasectionthrough a modified form p -Jifldfl- I Ihevvblankfshownin Figure ,1 is cut to pros vide a shank l,.a crosspiece 2 andtwotongues T-heinvention provides a socket contactele- ,3. Ifo form the ,contactelementthe cross piece 2 is bent toapproximately seshape asqshownin Figures 3 and '4 and the two tongues it are bent as shown in livigure 2, to provide contact races 4.

1 e s an rt n I ,i r v de as,.,I0 the a tachment of the lead wire.

- I fu u n .iw marb ro nde flat, is inserted endewise between the contact ,facesj as indicated inhdotted lines in Figure}.

.uifim' ih -pn ssu e 10 h qnt fa es is pro ided in part by the resilience of .the, tongues 3, but to a larger extent by the resilience of the s shaped portion 2. Itwillbe observedthatthe free ends of the S-shaped portion, which, have the? maxi- 20 mum freedom of movement, are in opposed relationship, with the result that substantially iconant contact pressure is applied acrossthe width M rth c n fa es- "In the modified. .fo m of. t e. contact. clemen ma preferred construction according tethe ed-shown.i -E sures-e to. 8 th r iar added .t'ofthe j invention the contact element is fabricated from a blank cut from sheet metal and the contact f faces areprovi'ded by tongues extending e dgewise from the ends of the resilient portion.

han portio' o t fi sm w hamans s I l'l;, spaced away fromthehpart 2 of the elent iand curved, in end view fthe ..element. to

con form withthe S-lshape of the part 2.

One specific form of socket contact element a'c-, ,30 'ITh 1;hO 11e1'- S110wn in; Figur s. 9 and 1231s incording to the invention and a modification attended forthegrecfipt q f the D lSD anieisht- '.thereof in conjunction with a valve holder will "now be described by way of example andwith reference to the accompanying drawings, in "'which-- 555 Figure 1 shows a'sheet'metal blank from which Figure '7 is a view corresponding to Figure 5,

=ofthemodification; a -Figurei8 is a section on thevline 88inv1 !ig- '-.ure 7 v Figure!) is a view of the top of a valve holder; Figure -10 is a View to an enlarged-[scale of part of the underside of the holder shown in Figure 9;

Figure 11 is a viewsimilar to Figure 10- but pinvalve. andhas" eight contact elements, as just described, located in a corresponding number of cesses II in the holder. Each' recess is I of rectangular form closely embracing the contact v acesandLS shaped portion of the ,element while allowing resilient outward movement of the contact faces, Leading from each recess through th basegofithe holder there is aslot [Z of width 'les thanthe .recess and, less, than the width of thefelementnbetween the tipsyv f the lugs' when ,1 the shank i'sias shown ingFigure 10, parallel with the (1 5,10 the slot. ,Thelslot, howeven issufii- L-cientl wide to; pass, the lugswhen the. shank is f te :d ason lp ti a he u i u 11. irlie. contact elements are assembled in the vholder in the manner described, above andare l ete n in 119 1210 1 the lugs 10 abut i against the. .outer, face 13 of the base of the holder atlthe sides ofqthe slots and by the sasht ped -.:nQ -t Qn abutt n -agai h hou d 1' j ,theibottoms of the recesses asshown in vFigure 12.

mpdif ho d r o niin F ur fm ce prises a moulded body portion 2| and a ret aining sishowingithe Jugs. ionca conta t-e nt pas er-6o} 21 19 1 .12 Pt sentence syntheti r fiidshe i through the slot in the holder;

body portion is of cylindrical form and has a which has apertures passing over the'tags ill of the contact elements and the plate engages the adjacent sides of the s-shaped portions 2' of the elements to hold them in the recesses in thebody portion. The retaining plate 22 is held in position against the rear end face of the body. portion by a central tubular rivet 26. a The invention is not restricted to the precise socket connection which socket member comprises at least one resilient socket contact elementcomprising a length-of; resilient strip material reversely bent about lines transverse to the constructional details described above and shown in the drawings. For example, changes may be made in the shape of the S-shaped portion 2; If

it is desired to increase the stiffness of the'element the radius of curvature of the bends of this portion may be reduced so that it becomes of zig-zag'shape and if on the other handit is desired to decrease the stillness of the element the radius of curvature may be increased.

I claim:

1. A resilient socket contact element for the purpose specified comprising a length of resilient strip material reversely bent about lines transverse to the length of the material into the form of a zigzag having substantially parallel legs and also comprising two opposed contact faces'provided by two tongues extending laterally from the edges of theend legs of the zigzag strip material on one side thereof and spaced apart for the reception between them of a plug member, the zigzag providing a resilient support for the tongues to afford contact pressure on the plug member.

2. A resilient socket contact element for the purpose specified comprising a length of resilient strip material reversely bent about lines transverse to the length of the material into a zigzag having an odd number of substantially parallel legs, two opposed contact faces provided by two tongues extending laterally of the strip from the edges of the end legs of the zigzag on one-"side thereof and spaced apart for the reception between them of a plug member, the zigzag providing a resilient support for the tongues to afiord contact pressure on the plug member, a shank portion extending from the center leg of the zigzag on the opposite side thereof and, on the shank, laterally extending lugs spaced from the zigzag.

3. A resilient socket contact element for the purpose specified comprising a length of resilient strip material reverselybent about parallel lines transverse to the length of the material into a zigzag having an odd number of substantially parallel legs, two opposed contact faces provided by two tongues extending laterally from the edges of the end legs of the zigzagon one side thereof and spaced apart for the reception between them of a plug member, the zigzag providing a resilient support for the tongues to aiford contact therefrom on the plug member, a shank extending from the center leg of the zigzag on the opposite side thereof and, on opposite sides of the shank Y two laterally extending lugs spaced from the zigzag and oppositely bent in directions to conform to the zigzag.

e, a socket member for an electrical plug and length of the material into a form of a zigzag having an odd number of substantially parallel legs, two opposed contact faces provided by two tongues extending laterally from the edges of the end legs of the zigzag on one side thereof and spaced part for the reception between them of a plug member, the zigzag providing a resilient support for thetongues to afiord contact pressure on the plug member, a shank portion extending from the center leg of the zigzag on the opposite side thereof and, on the shank, opposed laterally extending lugs spaced from the zigzag, and

asocket holder having a slot through which the the other side of the holder of the said lugs.

5. ,A socket member for an electrical plug and socket connection which socket member comprises at least one resilient socket contact element comprising a length of strip material reversely bent about lines transverse to the length of the materialinto the form of a zigzag having an odd number of substantially parallel legs, two

opposed contact faces provided by two tongues extending laterally from the edges of the end portions of the strip material on one side thereof andspaced apart for the reception between them of a plug member, the zigzag providing a resilient support for the tongues to afford contact pressure on the plug member, a shank extending from the center leg of the zigzag on the opposite side thereof and, on the shank, laterally extending lugs spaced from the zigzag, and a socket holder having a recess therein within which the aforesaid zigzag is received and closely embraced, a slot in the base of the recess through which the shank extends outwardly of the holder which slot is of reduced dimensions in relation to the recess thereby providing a shoulder at the bottom of the recess, and in which socket the socket contact element is retained in position by embracing the holderbetween the zigzag abutting against the shoulder on one side and the aforesaid lugs abutting against the external face of the holder on the other side. 7

. 6. A socket member, for an electrical plug and socket connection, as claimed in claim 5 in which the slot has a dimension between its opposed side faces slightly greater than the thickness of the shank and the lugs, and in which the lugs are oppositely bent in directions to conform with the zigzag and abut against the base at the sides of the slot.

STANLEY THOMAS DEAKIN.

REFERENCES CITED The following references are of record in the file of this patent:

UNITED STATES PATENTS Germany 1929 

